AFP LIVERPOOL

Tottenham Hotspur showed why manager Mauricio Pochettino is a wanted man by thrashing Everton 6-2 at Goodison Park on Sunday to close to within six points of Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Spurs have had to cope with the unwanted attention of Pochettino being linked with the Manchester United job following Jose Mourinho’s sacking this week.

But they showed no signs of being distracted as they roared back from a goal down thanks to doubles from Son Heung-min and Harry Kane with Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen also on target.

Fatigue may yet still derail Tottenham’s bid to win a first trophy under Pochettino with Spurs still involved in four competitions.

But with Liverpool facing Arsenal and Manchester City

in a top of the table clash in their next three games over the festive period, Tot-tenham have the oppor-tunity to haul themselves into a three-way title race if they maintain the standards set at Goodison.

Kane had chipped into the side-netting and Jordan Pickford produced a fine save to deny England team-mate Kieran Trippier in the early stages.

But it was Everton who struck first in a wildly open contest when Theo Walcott stabbed home at the near post from Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s cross.

Marco Silva’s men could even have been 2-0 up had Calvert-Lewin not been penalised for a push on Dav-inson Sanchez when heading home moments later.

But Spurs looked as if they could score with almost every attack and were soon on level terms with the aid of a Pickford error.

The England number one rushed from his goal but only succeeded in getting in the way of his own defender Kurt Zouma and Son took advantage with a wonderful finish from a narrow angle.

Once back on level terms, Spurs were relentless as Pickford denied Son a second but Alli charged into the box to sweep home the rebound to turn the game around. Kane is now just one goal behind Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang in the race for the

Premier League golden boot and showed his predatory instincts to side-foot into an empty net after Trippier’s fine free-kick came back off the post three minutes before half-time.

Both teams face the least rest time of any Premier League side over the festive period with another three games to come between now and New Year’s Day.

However, there was no let up in the pace of the game after the break as Eriksen

produced a technically perfect controlled volley from the edge of the box to make it 4-1.

Three minutes later Ever-ton’s deficit was back to two as Gylfi Sigurdsson dribbled across the whole Tottenham defence before firing back across Hugo Lloris.

Yet, any hope of a fightback was extinguished just after the hour mark when Son’s fine control cushioned Erik Lamela’s pass before he finished through the legs of Pickford.

It was announced this week that the South Korean will go to the Asian Cup in January despite already rep-resenting his country at the World Cup and Asian Games this year.

And Son showed why he will be missed by his club in January once more with an inch-perfect cross for Kane to slide in for his second of the afternoon 16 minutes from time.

SPORTMonday 24 December 2018

PAGE | 09 PAGE | 10Finch says finger

would need to be cut off to miss

third Test

One-horse races dominate club football in 2018

AFC Asian Cup: First match crucial, saysPalestine coach AliTHE AFC DOHA

Palestine coach Noureddine Ould Ali reckons his team’s first match in the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 against Syria will prove key to their progress in the tournament.

Palestine will be playing at this level for only the second time and a January 6 clash in Sharjah against the Syrians could prove decisive for qualification to the knockout stage from a group which also includes reigning champions Aus-tralia and Jordan.

“The first game in a tournament is always the most difficult,” Ali told the-AFC.com in an exclusive interview.

“When you start a tournament, you are looking for rhythm. The rhythm in training or during a preparatory match is not the same as the rhythm you are supposed to have in a proper match situation,” Ali added.

The Palestinians have been in Doha since early December training hard for the Conti-nental showpiece that gets under way on January 5 with a match between hosts UAE and Bahrain at Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

They are high on enthusiasm and confi-dence, especially after a string of encouraging results in recent matches.

Last month, they drew 1-1 against China in an international friendly in Haikou with the Chile-based Yashir Pinto, one of Palestine’s several foreign-based players, scoring the equaliser in the second half.

They beat Pakistan 2-1 last month in another friendly and in October, won a rare international title when they beat Tajikistan 4-3 on penalties in the final of the Bangabandhu Cup in Bangladesh.

They had an unbeaten run in the six-nation tournament, beating Nepal and Tajikistan in the group stage before accounting for hosts Bangladesh 2-0 in the semi-finals.

“We have had good results in our past five or six matches and that has led to some great team spirit in the team,” said Ali.

“We are Palestine and we don’t need any extra motivation to do well. In that way we are exceptional. Everything about us is exceptional,” the Algerian added.

Palestine first participated in the Asian Cup in 2015 when it was held in Australia, but it didn’t end well for them as they lost all their three group matches and crashed out.

“Obviously we were not experienced at that level then but then again it was a new expe-rience! We learned many lessons. We figured out the problems and developed solutions.

“Now we are fully focused. The players know they can make history. They are ready to take on any team.”

Tottenham’s Harry Kane scores their sixth goal against Everton at the Goodison Park in Liverpool, Britain, yesterday.

RANK CLUB P W D LOST POINTS

1 Liverpool 18 15 3 0 482 Manchester City 18 14 2 2 443 Tottenham Hotspur 18 14 0 4 424 Chelsea 18 11 4 3 375 Arsenal 18 11 4 3 376 Manchester United 18 8 5 5 297 Watford 18 8 3 7 278 Bournemouth 18 8 2 8 269 Leicester City 18 7 4 7 2510 Wolverhampton Wanderers 18 7 4 7 25

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE STANDINGS

Kane and Son shine as Spurs hit Everton for six

Qatari skipper Hassan Al Haydos (left) vies for the ball possession with a Jordanian player during their friendly match played at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, yesterday. Al Moez Ali (30) and Ahmad Alaa (90) scored as the hosts won 2-0. RIGHT: Qatar’s Al Moez Ali (right) celebrates with team-mate Abdulrahman Mustafa after scoring a goal.

Qatar beat Jordan 2-0 in home friendly

08 MONDAY 24 DECEMBER 2018SPORT

Jerebko shines in Warriors win; Bryant lifts WizardsAFP LOS ANGELES

Jonas Jerebko was an unlikely catalyst as the two-time defending NBA champions Golden State held off the Dallas Mavericks 120-116 in Oakland, California, on Saturday.

On a team that features the superstar quartet of Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, it was Sweden’s Jerebko receiving a massive ovation as he departed in the fourth quarter having scored 23 points in 21 minutes with three assists and six rebounds.

Durant led the Warriors with 29 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, but Jerebko’s relentless energy was crucial to the War-riors victory.

“He shot the ball really well, but he got a lot of offensive boards, too,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

“He had several plays that got the crowd into it with his hustle. He gave us a huge lift.” Jerebko scored nine points in the fourth quarter -- contributing a tip-in, a dunk and a three-pointer as the Warriors powered to a 111-96 lead.

He was back on the bench as Golden State saw their lead cut to one point.

Dallas forward Harrison Barnes’ three-pointer with 33.5 seconds left bounced off the rim and Durant drained a three-pointer to seal the win.

The victory saw the War-riors, who have struggled to find the same dominance they dis-played in their past two cham-pionship seasons, improve to 22-11, just a shade off the Western Conference lead shared at 21-10 by the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Denver had a one-game lead heading into the day, but suf-fered their biggest defeat of the season in a 132-111 loss to the Los

Angeles Clippers.Danilo Gallinari and Tobias

Harris scored 21 points apiece for the Clippers, who snapped the Nuggets’ four-game winning streak.

“I just thought our tempo set the tone,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “Our pace tonight, maybe as good as I’ve seen. We never stopped.” Serbian forward Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 19 points before he was tossed in the third quarter when he received two quick technicals for arguing a foul call.

Jamal Murray added 18 points and Monte Morris chipped in 15 for the Nuggets, who hadn’t lost by more than 10 points this season.

It came down to the wire in

Salt Lake City, where Paul George scored 43 points to lead the Thunder in a 107-106 victory over the Utah Jazz.

Bradley Beal’s first career triple-double and an historic night for center Thomas Bryant propelled the Washington Wizards to a 149-146 victory over the Phoenix Suns in a triple-overtime thriller.

Beal’s 40 points included 10 in the third overtime. He added 15 assists and 11 rebounds for his first triple-double -- reaching double digits in three key statis-tical categories. Bryant con-nected on all 14 of his shots from the field and three of three from the free throw line on the way to a career-high 31 points.

It was just the seventh game

in NBA history in which a player made at least 14 baskets without a miss and the first since Gary Payton did it almost 24 years ago.

“He was the MVP of the game,” Beal said of Bryant. “Eve-rybody wants to talk about my triple-double... TB was by far the MVP tonight.”

Elsewhere, the Philadelphia 76ers wore down injury-depleted Toronto, beating the league-leading Raptors 126-101. The Raptors arrived in Phila-delphia minus three of their top players in all-star Kawhi Leonard, Serge Ibaka and Jonas Valanciunas, and the Sixers took full advantage.

Joel Embiid scored 27 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.

Ben Simmons added 26 points with 12 rebounds and eight assists, while Jimmy Butler con-tributed 12 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

The Houston Rockets held off the San Antonio Spurs 108-101 with the help of 39 points from reigning NBA Most Valuable Player James Harden.

Houston used a big third quarter to take a 17-point lead, but San Antonio battled back to lead 97-96 with 3:03 remaining.

Undaunted, the Rockets kept firing from three-point range, retaking the lead on a three-pointer from Harden and pulling away for the victory despite the absence of injured point guard Chris Paul.

Golden State Warriors forward Jonas Jerebko (21) shoots during the match against Dallas Mavericks centre DeAndre Jordan (6) during the third quarter at Oracle Arena on Saturday.

NHL: Marner shines as Leafs rattle RangersREUTERS NEW YORK

Mitch Marner had two goals and an assist in the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs held on to defeat the visiting New York Rangers 5-3 on Saturday.

Patrick Marleau, Morgan Rielly and Andreas Johnsson also scored for the Maple Leafs, who scored four times in the third period en route to their third win in a row.

John Tavares and Johnsson each added two assists.

Kevin Hayes and Neal Pionk each had a goal and an assist for the Rangers, and Chris Kreider added a goal.

Maple Leafs goaltender Fre-derik Andersen made 25 saves. Alexandar Georgiev stopped 31 shots for New York.

Jets 1, Canucks 0 Mark Scheifele’s goal with

1:32 left in the third period gave visiting Winnipeg the victory over Vancouver as goaltender Laurent Brossoit made 40 saves for the first shutout of his career.

He has won eight of the nine games that he has started this season. The Jets swept their three-game season series with the Canucks and have now won 11 of their past 13 games overall.

Vancouver goaltender Jacob Markstrom posted 23 saves on 24 shots. He suffered his first loss in seven games.

Canadiens 4, Golden Knights 3

Paul Byron scored at the 1:59 mark of overtime for his second consecutive game-winning goal and Phillip Danault scored his first career hat trick to lead Mon-treal over Vegas in Las Vegas.

Byron took a pass from Max Domi while cutting in front of the net and beat Marc-Andre Fleury with a backhand shot through his pads to give Montreal its first overtime win in six tries this season.

Stars 2, Wild 1 Alexander Radulov scored

the game-winning goal with 10 seconds remaining in overtime and Ben Bishop turned away 30 shots as visiting Dallas won a thriller over Minnesota in St. Paul, Minn.

Radulov’s shot, off a pass from John Klingberg and an assist from Mattias Janmark, found a hole under the glove of Minnesota goalkeeper Devan Dubnyk on the short side near the post to allow the Stars just their second win in their past seven games.

Jamie Benn broke open a scoreless tie just 1:58 into the third period when he camped in the crease and poked home a Radulov pass from behind the net past Dubnyk.

Lightning 6, Oilers 3 Steven Stamkos and Tyler

Johnson each scored twice as Tampa Bay extended its points streak with a win against host Edmonton.

Nikita Kucherov added a goal and four assists and J.T. Miller also scored for the Lightning, who are 11-0-1 in their past 12 games, the longest points streak in the NHL this season.

Tampa Bay wrapped up its four-game Western Canada trip by going 3-0-1. Lightning

goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves.

Sabres 3, Ducks 0 Linus Ullmark made 40

saves for his second NHL shutout and host Buffalo shut out Anaheim as Rasmus Dahlin, Jeff Skinner and Conor Sheary scored for the Sabres.

Buffalo ended a two-game losing streak and swept the season series against the Ducks for the first time since the 2011-12 season.

Jack Eichel had two assists

to give him 18 multi-point games this season, moving into a tie for the league lead with Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche.

Kings 3, Sharks 2 Ilya Kovalchuk scored two

goals in his return from an ankle injury, including the game-winner 2:29 into overtime, as vis-iting Los Angeles pulled off a second consecutive surprise victory by topping San Jose.

Alex Iafallo also scored a goal for the Kings, who defeated a Sharks team that entered as the fifth best in the Western Conference.

The victory came four days after a strong 4-1 victory over the Western Conference-leading Winnipeg Jets.

The Kings entered last in the conference and their minus-28 goal differential was second worst.

Coyotes 6, Avalanche 4 Brad Richardson scored two

third-period goals, including the game-winner with 3:39 remaining, as Arizona snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over Colorado in Glendale, Ariz.

Richard Panik and Derek Stepan each had a goal and an assist and Conor Garland and Christian Fischer also scored for Arizona. Adin Hill finished with 24 saves.

Alexander Kerfoot scored two goals, and Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon also scored for Colorado, which rallied from a 4-1 third-period deficit to tie it. J.T. Compher and Matt Nieto each finished with two assists.

Carolina Hurricanes left wing Jordan Martinook (48) skates with the puck against Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray (30) at PNC Arena.

WADA’s integrity on test in Russia: Rodchenkov lawyerAFP NEW YORK

The attorney for Russian doping scandal whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov said on Saturday that restoring Russia to World Anti-Doping Agency compliance after being denied key lab data would destroy WADA’s integrity.

The move came a day after the Canada-based sport doping watchdogs announced a five-member panel would return from Moscow empty-handed after not being allowed to retrieve data from a suspended Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) laboratory. The data had been required to complete Russia’s controversial September reinstatement to sports by WADA after revelations of a s tate-backed doping program.

“(WADA president) Craig Reedie is Nero, playing his fiddle while Russia burns clean sports to the ground,” attorney Jim Walden said. “The time for half measures and appeasement must finally come to an end. If RUSADA is not now banned, the last measure of WADA’s integrity will vanish.”

Rodchenkov, whose tes-timony unveiled the elaborate Russian doping scheme for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, is in hiding in the United States in the wake of death threats after the Rus-sians were punished, including a ban from this year’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

WADA gave the Russians a conditional release from the ban in September but one of the requirements was full access to data at the Moscow lab and that did not happen this week as a WADA team had expected.

09MONDAY 24 DECEMBER 2018 SPORT

Boxing Day Test: Ashwin doubtful as Shastri demands openers step upAFP MELBOURNE

Ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin remains an injury doubt for the third Test against Aus-tralia, India coach Ravi Shastri said yesterday as he demanded his opening batsmen step up to ease pressure on Virat Kohli.

Ashwin was sidelined with an abdominal strain for the second Test in Perth and was sorely missed as Australia, led by off-spinner Nathan Lyon, won by 146 runs to level the series 1-1.

Shastri revealed Ashwin is racing the clock to be ready for the crunch Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, where the stakes are high in the four-Test series.

“As far as Ashwin is con-cerned, we are going to take a look and evaluate over the next 48 hours,” Shastri said.

Left-arm off-spinning all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is also carrying a niggle, but experi-enced batsman Rohit Sharma, who also missed Perth after hurting his lower back, is fit again.

“He has made a very good improvement but then again we have got to see how he pulls up tomorrow. But he looks good as of today,” said Shastri.

India go into the Melbourne Test with Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara in fine form, effectively carrying their team during the Adelaide and Perth games. But the opening pair of KL Rahul and Murali Vijay have struggled for runs and Shastri said that needed to change.

“It’s a big concern,” he said when asked about the failure of the openers to get a big score. It’s obvious and that responsibility and accountability has to be taken by the top order.

“They’ve got the experience, they’ve got the exposure over these last few years to get out there and deliver. It’s about how strong you are in the mind.”

There is no guarantee that Rahul and Vijay will retain their places with in-form Mayank

Agarwal called up to the squad as a replacement for injured young opener Prithvi Shaw, who has been ruled out of the series.

Superstar captain Kohli scored a battling century in Perth but he came under criticism for his sledging and heated exchanges with Australian coun-terpart Tim Paine.

His animated wicket celebra-tions were also frowned upon, but Shastri said he didn’t have a problem with his skipper.

“What’s wrong with his behaviour? As far as we are con-

cerned, he is an absolute gen-tleman,” he said.

Shastri also denied India’s morale had taken a hit by losing in Perth after their tense victory in Adelaide -- their first Test win on Australian soil in a decade.

“Absolutely not. 1-1 in a series in Australia and we know we had our chances in Perth as well. They’re ready,” he said. “It’s not often that we’ve been in a position where we’ve won one (on an overseas tour). It’s 1-1. The boys know what they can do, what they’re capable of.”

THE PENINSULA MELBOURNE

Seven-year-old Archie Schiller yesterday was announced as the ‘15th member of the Australian Test squad’ for the Boxing Day Test against India.

Archie’s inclusion is the result of a move made pos-sible by the Make-A-Wish Australia Foundation, details showed yesterday.

When Archie’s father asked him once what he would like to do when he grows up, cricket-mad Archie said he wants to captain the Australia.

Recently the foundation learned Archie’s heart con-dition and worked back stage to get his wish fulfilled.

Australian skipper Tim Paine confirmed the news during the a meet-the-fans gathering attended by Aus-tralia and India players, a report in Times of India said.

The kid was informed about his inclusion news via a phone call from Australian coach Justin Langer.

Archie, 7, has spent much of his short life in hos-pital as he battles a life-threatening heart condition. At just three months old, he had his first open heart surgery - with 12 further surgeries since then.

Much of Archie’s day-to-day life consists of hospital stays and specialist visits, resulting in many missed days of school and playing with friends.

His wish journey is giving him something positive to focus on and build the emotional resilience he needs to continue fighting.

Langer was quoted in the report as saying: “He (Archie) has been through some times... we can help to put a smile on his face, it’s the very least we can do.”

Archie also trained with the Australian cricket team during a team training session in Adelaide.

The Boxing Day Test starts on December 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

India’s captain Virat Kohli (left) and his Australian counterpart Tim Paine are interviewed during a meet the fans event in Melbourne yesterday. Archie Schiller is also seen standing next to Kohli and Paine.

Finch says finger would need to be cut off to miss third TestREUTERS MELBOURNE

Australia opening batsman Aaron Finch (pic-tured) has declared himself fit for the Boxing Day Test against India in Melbourne and said his injured finger would need to be cut off to prevent him from playing in front of his home state’s fans.

Finch’s right index finger suffered a nasty blow when he was struck in the glove by a Mohammed Shami delivery in the second test in Perth, forcing him to retire hurt during Australia’s second innings.

He came back to face only one more delivery before being caught behind off the same bowler but it mattered little as Tim Paine’s Australia went on to claim a rousing 146-run win to level the four-match series at 1-1.

As a one-day specialist, Victoria batsman Finch has played to huge crowds at the MCG, including the World Cup triumph against New Zealand in 2015. But Finch has yet to savour a Boxing Day test at the ground, one of the game’s biggest carnivals.

“With a Boxing Day test, being from Victoria, it’s going to have to be cut off (to not play),” Finch joked to reporters at the MCG before training yesterday. “It’s going to be a catch and bat today and reassess, but it feels like it’s improved 100 per cent over the last couple of days.

“I got sent some new bats, so I’ve been walking around the lounge room and waving them around. It feels OK. If anything changes in the next couple of days, we’ll have to sit down and chat about that but, at this stage, it’s still business as usual and I plan to field at slip and do whatever else is needed.”

After twin failures in the first Test defeat in Adelaide, Finch scored 50 in the first innings in Perth in a vital 112-run opening partnership with Victoria team mate Marcus Harris.

The rookie opening pair then shored up their places in the squad with a 59-run stand in Aus-tralia’s second innings.

Compared to India, who have injuries nagging both their top spinners and major form concerns over both their opening batsmen, Aus-tralia head into the Wednesday’s Boxing Day test in a relative state of calm.

Australia are unlikely to tweak their attack for the MCG, and only middle order batsman Peter Handscomb is really sweating on his place after managing only 68 runs from his four innings.

Seam-bowling all-rounder Mitchell Marsh could replace Handscomb and offer support for Australia’s pacemen on a drop-in wicket that did little for the bowlers in a dull draw against England last year. But selectors would be replacing one out-of-form player with another.

Marsh has managed scores of 11, 21, 30 and six from his last four innings for Western Aus-tralia in the Sheffield Shield, and was dismissed for three on Thursday in his last knock in the local ‘Big Bash’ Twenty20 competition.

WI captain Brathwaite slams BD umpiresAFP DHAKA

West Indies Twenty20 skipper Carlos Brathwaite blasted the match umpires for giving “50-50 decisions” to Bangladesh even though his side won the third Twenty20 international to wrap up the series.

West Indies, who won Saturday’s match by 50 runs, were victims of an erroneous no-ball call that could not be overturned by review and Braithwaite was critical of the umpiring throughout the tour though he insisted he was not alleging “cheating”.

In the fourth over of the Bangladesh

innings, Bangladesh umpire Tanvir Ahmed called a no-ball against West Indies paceman Oshane Thomas when batsman Liton Das spooned a catch to Shimron Hetmyer at mid-off. A television replay showed the delivery had been legal, and Brathwaite and his teammates were furious after seeing the big screen images in the Dhaka Stadium.

Brathwaite asked for a review and ran to the boundary for talks with match referee Jeff Crowe, halting the game for around 10 minutes. The match officials had to uphold the decision despite a clear mistake as the rules do not allow a review against an on-field no-ball call.

West Indies, who made 190, were charged up after the incident and bowled out Bangladesh for 140 in 17 overs with medium-pacer Keemo Paul picking up 5-15.

“The rule is that if a no-ball is called it cannot be reviewed or reversed. But if it isn’t called, it can be reversed checking the video.

“Everyone saw that it was not a no-ball,” Brathwaite said after the game.

“I didn’t think the 50/50 decisions were going in our favour. Those decisions went for Bangladesh,” he said.

“I never ever want to accuse someone of cheating. I will stop short of that. They are professionals as well.”

AUSTRALIA vs INDIAVENUE: Melbourne Cricket Ground - Capacity: 100,000

DATE: Dec. 26-30. Play starts at 1030 local time (2330 GMT) AUSTRALIA: (World ranking: fifth) Squad: Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus

Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine (captain), Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc. Coach: Justin Langer

INDIA: (World ranking: first) Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Parthiv Patel, Ravichandran

Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal. Coach: Ravi Shastri

HISTORY: Previous Australia v India Tests in Melbourne Matches: 12 Australia wins: 8 India wins: 2

YEAR WINNER MARGIN 1948 Australia 233 runs 1948 Australia Innings and 177 runs 1968 Australia Innings and 4 runs 1978 India 222 runs 1981 India 59 runs 1985 Match drawn 1991 Australia 8 wickets 1999 Australia 180 runs 2003 Australia 9 wickets 2007 Australia 337 runs 2011 Australia 122 runs 2014 Match drawn

SERIES First Test (Adelaide) India won by 31 runs.

Second Test (Perth) Australia won by 146 runs. Fourth Test: Jan. 3-7 Sydney Cricket Ground

Archie, 7, ‘added’ to Australia squad!

West Indies cricket captain Carlos Brathwaite (right) argues with the match referee umpire Jeff Crowe (second right) during the third T20 cricket match between Bangladesh and West Indies in Dhaka on Saturday.

10 MONDAY 24 DECEMBER 2018SPORT

France triumph as World Cup raises pulsesREUTERS LONDON

Any fears that the 2018 World Cup in Russia would be over-shadowed by political antag-onism were completely smashed as the June-July extravaganza set pulses racing and ended with a young, exciting France team clinching the title.

A thrilling tournament undoubtedly got the final it deserved as France, spearheaded by Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe and moulded into a coherent unit by coach Didier Deschamps, dazzled in a 4-2 victory over a technically gifted Croatia.

The tournament, dubbed the “greatest World Cup ever” by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, had kicked off in style with the hosts’ 5-0 thrashing of Saudi Arabia.

That set the tone for a World Cup that not only provided entertainment by the bucketload but also turned a number of expectations on their head, before ending with a fourth con-secutive triumph for a European side.

Stanislav Cherchesov’s Russia certainly surpassed expectations by reaching the quarter-finals, seeing off 2010 winners Spain in the last-16 on penalties.

Tipped as one of the favourites, Spain had imploded days before their first match, sacking coach Julen Lopetegui after he had agreed to become Real Madrid manager after the tournament, replacing him with Fernando Hierro.

Spain at least fared better than defending champions Germany, who were dumped out in the opening round for the first time since 1938 following a 2-0 defeat by South Korea.

While there were some superb individual performances, notably by Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Croatia’s Luka Modric, the star of the tour-nament was arguably not a player, but the video assistant referee (VAR).

Many had greeted FIFA’s decision to approve the tech-nology for the tournament back in March with a degree of scepticism.

Yet VAR went on to be a

success, making crucial decisions and overturning injustices, while adding an extra layer of drama to proceedings.

The playacting antics of Bra-zil’s Neymar could not escape the camera’s forensic lens, while Germany’s fate was sealed when the VAR correctly overturned an offside decision in the lead up to a South Korean goal.

VAR even made an inter-vention in the highest scoring final in the tournament’s history,

helping to award a penalty to France, a record 29th in the tour-nament, scored by Griezmann.

Gareth Southgate’s young England side also defied gloomy World Cup expectations and put years of misery behind them by reaching the semi-finals.

They were prevented from featuring in only their second ever final by Croatia, but would have a small measure of revenge a few months later in the inau-gural UEFA Nations League.

That competition was intro-duced to replace stale and uncompetitive international friendlies in Europe, but its four-league, four-group format left many observers scratching their heads.

Yet whether it was a feeling of World Cup nostalgia, or the fact that players were still in their early energetic days of the season, the Nations League began with a series of pulsating and compelling ties.

The Netherlands, who had not qualified for the World Cup, were resurgent under coach Ronald Koeman and heaped more misery on Joachim Loew’s Germany by beating them 3-0 at home in October.

Virgil Van Dijk’s stoppage-time equaliser in the return fixture last month then secured their progress to the final-four stage of the competition next year where they will play England.

Finals hosts Portugal will face Switzerland in the other tie.

Lower down the chain, Gibraltar secured their first ever competitive victory by winning 1-0 away to Armenia.

It was a similar story for Kosovo, who were relishing playing among teams of similar stature in League D, eventually topping Group 3 to gain promotion.

One-horse races dominate club footballREUTERS ZURICH

Club football played second fiddle to the World Cup in 2018 and that was probably just as well given its utter predictability.

Four or the five major European domestic leagues, which concentrate nearly all the top players and most of the sport’s wealth, turned into one-horse races in the latest demonstration of the growing gulf between the biggest clubs and the rest.

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City wrapped up the English Premier League with five games left, eventually amassing a record 100 points to finish 19 points clear.

The many records they set in the process included the most consecutive Premier League wins (18), the most goals scored (106), the best goal difference (79) and the most passes in a Premier League game (902).

There was no denying the quality of the football, arguably the best ever played in the Premier League, yet the contest itself was effectively over by Christmas.

In Spain, Barcelona won La Liga for the third time in four seasons with a 14-point advantage and 99 goals scored, with one defeat all season.

There were no surprises in Germany, either, where Bayern Munich notched a sixth straight Bundesliga title after recalling Jupp Heynckes for his fourth stint as coach, or in France, where Paris St Germain made it five titles out of the last six.

In yet another lopsided contest, the Qatari-owned French club amassed 93 points from 38 games, 13 more than second-placed AS Monaco. What should have been the game of the season, when they hosted the principality team, turned into a 7-1 rout.

The exception was Serie A where Napoli pushed Juventus all the way but there was still a sense of inevitability that the Turin side would win a seventh title in a row which they did.

The Champions League pro-duced some memorable ties in the knockout stages but ended in familiar fashion with Real Madrid winning the trophy for the fourth time in fifth seasons, beating Liv-erpool 3-1 in the final in Kiev.

Real’s celebrations where short-lived as coach Zinedine Zidane then resigned and Cris-tiano Ronaldo left for Juventus, having scored a club record 451 goals and won 16 trophies during nine seasons.

Zidane’s replacement Julen Lopetegui lasted only three months before being fired to make way for Santiago Solari.

Lopetegui’s appointment made him Real’s 20th coach since 1996 -- while Arsenal had one during the same period.

Arsene Wenger’s remarkable 22-year spell with the Gunners

finally ended, though not in the way the Frenchman would have wanted with his team missing out on this season’s Champions League after finishing sixth.

Another major coaching move saw former Chelsea, Real Madrid, Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich manager Carlo Ancelotti return to Italy after a nine-year absence to coach Napoli. Luiz Felipe Scolari, Brazil coach when they won their fifth World Cup in 2002 and also in charge of the side humiliated 7-1 by Germany at the finals on home soil in 2014, led Palmeiras to the Brazilian title at the age of 70.

Palmeiras, seventh when ‘Big Phil’ took over in July and eight points off the lead, won 16 of their next 22 league matches and drew six, conceding just nine goals to triumph with a game to spare.

South America has managed to avoid the predictability and gentrification of European club football although it sometimes veers too far towards the other extreme.

River Plate and Boca Juniors, the Buenos Aires neighbours who share arguably the fiercest rivalry in football, both reached the final

of the Copa Libertadores, the equivalent of the Champions League, for the first time in its 58-year history.

The match captured the imagination and, after a 2-2 draw at Boca’s Bombonera stadium, it was all set for a memorable second leg on a perfect spring afternoon in front of a global audience.

Instead, Boca’s team bus was pelted with objects as it approached River’s Monumental stadium, injuring several players.

Chaos ensued as organisers said the match would go ahead but, after twice postponing the kickoff, rescheduled it for the fol-lowing day.

That was also called off and, after several days of indecision, CONMEBOL ignored protests from both teams and decided to stage the match at Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium.

River came from behind to win 3-1 in a gritty, passionate match but, while they celebrated, many observers wondered if a precedent was set by staging the final on the ‘wrong’ continent and could be repeated to feed the sport’s commercialisation.

A thrilling tournament undoubtedly got the final it deserved as France, spearheaded by Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe and moulded into a coherent unit by coach Didier Deschamps, dazzled in a 4-2 victory over a technically gifted Croatia.

While there were some superb individual performances, notably by Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Croatia’s Luka Modric, the star of the tournament was arguably not a player, but the video assistant referee (VAR).

Paris Saint-Germain’s (PSG) Brazilian forward Neymar (second, left) celebrates with French forward Kylian Mbappe (left) and team-mates in this file photo. PSG made it five titles out of the last six. In yet another lopsided contest, the Qatari-owned French club amassed 93 points from 38 games, 13 more than second-placed AS Monaco.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi (right) kicks the ball to score against Club Atletico de Madrid during a Spanish League football match in this file photo. Barcelona won La Liga for the third time in four seasons with a 14-point advantage and 99 goals scored, with one defeat all season.

French players celebrate with the trophy after winning the FIFA 2018 World Cup at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, in this July 15 file photo.

11MONDAY 24 DECEMBER 2018 SPORT

Solskjaer makes instant impact as Man United thrash CardiffAFP CARDIFF

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insisted having “good players” was the key to his instant impact as Manchester United caretaker manager in a 5-1 thumping of Cardiff on Saturday.

Not since Alex Ferguson’s final game in charge in 2013 had United scored five goals in a single Premier League game and the Red Devils looked a side transformed from the turgid football of Jose Mourinho’s final days in charge.

“They are very good players, talented players, they’ve approached the game properly and worked hard. A Man Utd team should never be out-worked,” said Solskjaer.

The Norwegian has been put in charge until the end of the season after Mourinho was sacked on Tuesday and could not have asked for a better start in the Welsh capital.

As well as getting Solskjaer off to a flying start, victory also sees United crucially close the gap on the Premier League top four to eight points thanks to Chelsea’s 1-0 home defeat by Leicester earlier in the day.

“We’re eight points behind, so our job is to take one game at a time,” added Solskjaer.

“We always play well in the second half of the season.” Paul Pogba was forced to watch the

full 90 minutes from the bench last weekend as Liverpool inflicted the final blow to Mour-inho’s time in charge with a 3-1 win that left United 19 points off the top after just 17 games.

The French World Cup-winner was restored from the start for the first time in four league games and looked far more like the player United splashed a then world-record £89m on in 2016 than the one that clashed with his former boss off the field and disappointed on it for much of the past two seasons.

“The performance of the team was great and we are

happy that the first game of the manager starts like this,” said Pogba.

“It’s important now to carry on like that.

“We can not play like this and win with five goals and then the next game lose.”

The visiting fans enthusias-tically chanted Solskjaer’s name throughout and were enjoying their side moving the ball around with a speed and accuracy more reminiscent of his days as a player at Old Trafford when United dominated English football.

“It’s nothing like they have been playing,” said Cardiff boss

Neil Warnock. “We expected that from the teamsheet.”

Pogba was at the heart of United’s best work and having been fouled for the free-kick leading to Marcus Rashford’s opener, his intelligent pass picked out Ander Herrera, whose shot flicked off Greg Cun-ningham to loop over the helpless Neil Etheridge to make it 2-0 inside half an hour.

If Solskjaer’s side were for-tunate then, it was Cardiff who got a break nine minutes later when the assistant referee adjudged Rashford to have handled rather than control the ball with his shoulder inside the area. Victor Camarasa’s per-fectly-taken penalty could have sparked a collapse for a team short on confidence in recent times. Instead, United responded resoundingly with a fantastic team goal as a quick interchange of passes between Pogba and Jesse Lingard freed Anthony Martial to score his ninth goal of the season.

Lingard took responsibility from the spot just before the hour mark after another soft penalty was awarded for a foul by Sol Bamba on the England international.

And Lingard was the bene-ficiary of another defence-splitting pass from Pogba a minute from time as he rounded Etheridge and slotted into an empty net.

Messi, Dembele protect Barca’s leadAP BARCELONA

Lionel Messi ensured Barcelona reached the Spanish league’s winter break atop the standings, playing a part in both goals of a 2-0 win at home over Celta Vigo on Saturday.

Messi scored Barcelona’s second goal to take his league-leading tally to 15 in 17 rounds, including six goals in his last three matches, as Barcelona stayed three points ahead of Atletico Madrid.

“Our goal was to finish the year as leaders, and with the same advantage we had going into the round,” Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said.

Messi helped to set up Ousmane Dembele’s opener when he received a pass from Jordi Alba and took a shot that was saved by goalkeeper Ruben Blanco. The rebound fell to Dembele to drive between the legs of a defender to take the 10th-minute lead.

Messi made it 2-0 in the 45th after Jordi Alba found him arriving to the center of Celta’s box completely unmarked to fire in a left-footed shot.

“On the first goal I looked for (Messi) like always, and on the second goal Luis (Suarez) and Dembele made runs to pull away defenders and left Leo alone,”

Alba said about his role in both goals.

“And Leo never misses.” Third-placed Sevilla trails Bar-celona by six points before vis-iting Leganes.

After yesterday’s games the Spanish league stops play for two weeks.

Celta lost top scorer Iago Aspas - fourth in La Liga with 10 goals - to a leg injury early in the

second half. The Spain striker walked gingerly off the pitch to the applause of the Camp Nou crowd, which included former Barcelona star Andres Iniesta.

Celta said Aspas hurt a

muscle in his right thigh and expects him to be sidelined for a month.

“Iago is for us like Messi is for Barca,” Celta defender Hugo Mallo said.

“Any injury (to a teammate) hurts us, but an injury to Iago hurts even more.”

Antoine Griezmann scored a second-half penalty to help Atletico eke out a 1-0 win at home over Espanyol, keeping the team coached by Diego Simeone right behind defending champion Barcelona.

Espanyol started well as Borja Iglesias drew two saves from goalkeeper Jan Oblak before Leo Baptistao hit the post in the first half hour.

But Atletico tightened up its defense and got the goal it needed from Griezmann.

Griezmann drove in a rising shot from the penalty spot in the 56th after Jorge “Koke” Resur-reccion was fouled by Esteban Granero in the area.

Espanyol, which had risen to the upper part of the table earlier in the season, fell into 12th place after a sixth consec-utive loss.

With its game from this round postponed so it could play the Club World Cup, Real Madrid successfully defended its world title by beating Al Ain 4-1 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Barcelona’s win left fourth-placed Madrid eight points back with a game in hand that it will recover on Jan. 3 when it cuts its vacation short to visit Villarreal.

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (centre) tries to force his way past a couple of Celta Vigo players at the Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain on Saturday.

Manchester United’s caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer celebrates after the English Premier League match against Cardiff City at Cardiff City Stadium in Cardiff, south Wales on Saturday.

Mbappe scores winner for PSG against NantesAP PARIS

Two days after celebrating his 20th birthday, Kylian Mbappe grabbed Paris Saint-Germain’s winner against Nantes in a scrappy 1-0 home result on Saturday.

With PSG heading toward a third straight French league draw, Mbappe slid in at the back post to stab home Angel Di Maria’s corner from the right in the 68th minute.

It took France’s World Cup star to the top of the

league scoring charts with 13, and ensured PSG heads into the winter break unbeaten in domestic competitions.

PSG is 13 points ahead of second-placed Lille, which lost at home to Tou-louse 2-1 and has played two games more than PSG.

Third-placed Lyon closed the gap on Lille to two points as forward Nabil Fekir netted for the third straight game in a 1-1 draw at fourth-place Montpellier. Lyon has a game in hand on Lille, and Montpellier has one in hand on Lyon after

previous weekends saw a spate of postponements due to widespread anti-gov-ernment protests around the country.

Saint-Etienne was the big winner on the night, moving level on points with Montpellier after a com-fortable 3-0 home win against Dijon. Saint-Etienne’s front line worked well, with Kevin Monnet-Paquet, Wahbi Khazri and Robert Beric all scoring.

At the other end of the table, the pressure was mounting on beleaguered Monaco coach Thierry

Henry after losing at home to last-placed Guingamp 2-0. Since taking charge in October, Henry has won only three out of 14 matches overall.

Monaco was in 19th place and only two points ahead of Guingamp, which scored in the second half through forwards Marcus Thuram and Nolan Roux.

Thuram is the son of France great Lilian Thuram, Henry’s teammate when France won the 1998 World Cup and the European Championship two years later.

PSG forward Kylian Mbappe (left) jokes with team-mate Presnel Kimpembe at the end of the Ligue 1 match against Nantes at the Parc des Princes Stadium in Paris on Saturday.

Mandzukic on target for JuveAFP MILAN

Mario Mandzukic scored the only goal for Juventus to dump further hurt on crisis club Roma and keep the champions unbeaten and on track for an eighth straight Italian league title.

The Croatian World Cup runner-up headed in the winner 34 minutes into the match in Turin to put Juventus back eight points clear of Napoli.

The defeat could have been harsher but for Roma goalkeeper Robin Olsen denying Cristiano Ronaldo, with Douglas Costa having a late goal ruled out following a video assistant referee check because of a foul in the build-up.

“We are doing good things, we have reached the Champions League last sixteen and we’re winter champions,” said coach Mas-similiano Allegri, referring to the name given to teams top before Christmas.

Serie A is however holding a round of fixtures on December 26 and 29, before pausing for three weeks.

“We haven’t won anything yet,” added Allegri. “The important thing is to be a few points ahead of Napoli on the 29th of December.”

Juve -- who have only dropped points against Genoa -- travel to Atalanta and host Sampdoria in their final two matches before the end of the year.

Roma, after finishing third last season, are now 25 points behind Juventus and drop to 10th after their eighth defeat in as many trips to the Allianz Stadium. They have won just twice in the league since the end of September. Napoli are way behind Juve but consolidated second place when Raul Albiol headed his first goal of the season from a Dries Mertens corner against to beat struggling SPAL.

“Thinking of Juventus is likely to demotivate us,” said coach Carlo Ancelotti.

“We have to think about ourselves because this team can do more, we have room for improvement and I say it after today’s match, which was not amazing.” - Inter stumble - Inter Milan were held 1-1 at bottom club Chievo to fall eight points behind Napoli, with the two clubs going head-to-head in the San Siro on December 26.

Inter looked set for victory when Ivan Perisic scored the opener six minutes before the break, but the evergreen Sergio Pellissier, 39, gave his side an early Christmas present when he lobbed Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic a minute into injury time.

SPORT 07MONDAY 24 DECEMBER 2018

They’ve (India’s opening pair of KL

Rahul and Murali Vijay) got the experience,

they’ve got the exposure over these last

few years to get out there and deliver. It’s

about how strong you are in the mind.

Indian coach Ravi Shastri TURKISH SUPER LIG

Akhisarspor vs KonyasporAntalyaspor vs Fenerbahçe

FOOTBALL

TO

DAY

’SA

CTIO

N

AP NEW YORK

This was a year of moments.Justify won the Triple

Crown. The US beat Canada in a shootout for gold in women’s hockey at the Pyeongchang Olympics, and John Shuster pulled off a curling shot of all-time to win another gold for the red, white and blue. Stefon Diggs engineered a miracle in Minneapolis to win a playoff game for the Vikings. Roger Federer won a point at the US Open without getting the ball over the net. Tiger Woods walked down the 18th fairway as a winner again. Loyola Chicago became the darlings of college basketball during the NCAA Tournament, fuelled by a penchant for dramatics at the buzzer.

All of them spectacular.Still, none of them made the

list of the Plays of the Year.These come from some of

the biggest events of the year - the Stanley Cup Final, the World Cup, the Super Bowl, the AL Championship Series and the women’s Final Four. One was from a volleyball player using her feet, another was a quarterback who made a winning throw but didn’t touch a football. And they all stood out a bit more than most.

THE BEST PLAYS IN SPORTS FOR 2018:

10. HOLTBY SAVES THE CAPS

Washington goalie Braden Holtby might have turned the Stanley Cup Final around with one save.

Alex Tuch had a chance to tie Game 2 of the series with about two minutes left in reg-ulation. Alone in the slot, he took a pass and had tons of open net to shoot at from right on the doorstep - only to be denied by Holtby, who stabbed his stick at the air and just managed to find the puck. “Thank God he’s our goalie,” Caps star Alex Ovechkin said. The Capitals went on to win the series.

9. HARDEN BREAKS ANKLESPoor Wesley Johnson. Poor,

poor Wesley Johnson. All he was trying to do was guard Houston star James Harden, and he ended up on the ground as an unwitting participant in a highlight for the ages.

Harden crossed Johnson over and caused him to stumble to the floor - it’s called “breaking ankles” in basketball vernacular - and it only got worse from there for the Los Angeles Clippers guard. Harden stared at him, held the ball for nearly three seconds, then made a 3-pointer.

8. MESSI, IN A FLASHArgentina’s Lionel Messi,

even in a full sprint, simply does things that hardly anyone else in the soccer-playing world can pull off.

He took a long pass in a World Cup game against Nigeria, controlled it with his left thigh, then tapped it forward with his left foot - the ball hadn’t hit the ground yet - then stutter-stepped his way to the ball and delivered a right-footed strike into the far side of the net.

7. BUMP, KICK, SPIKEThe pass from Kailey Elrod

wasn’t perfect, and all Talia Watson could do was get her foot on the ball and flick it skyward. By the way, this wasn’t soccer. This was vol-leyball. The Cedar Crest College Falcons of Allentown, Pennsyl-vania, had match point against the College of Staten Island on Sept. 6, and Elrod’s bump from the baseline was low. Watson got her foot on the ball - yes, it’s legal - to extend the point, and eventually she had a more con-ventional set to set up a kill that capped Cedar Crest’s 3-0 victory.

6. SLING AND A PRAYERJulian McGarvey is a quar-

terback at Marist College, and his best throw of 2018 had nothing to do with football. Down by two with time running out in New York state’s Section 1 Class A boys basketball cham-pionship game, McGarvey intercepted a long pass, stumbled, gathered himself - some angles show that he didn’t travel, either - and heaved a 70-foot desperation try that dropped to give Ardsley a 52-51 win over Tappan Zee. Ardsley went on to make the state championship game, before eventually falling.

5. LEBRON SAVES THE DAYJimmy Butler tried a layup

with about three seconds left in overtime, only to have it swatted away by LeBron James who tracked the play perfectly

and rejected Butler’s shot with ease. And moments later, James outdid himself - again. After a timeout, James delivered Cleveland a win over Minnesota when he took an inbounds pass, turned and swished a fadeaway over Butler to help the Cavs top the Timberwolves 140-138.

4. TUA FOR THE WINThis has to be the best

second-and-26 play in football history. Down by 3 in overtime, in the national championship game, one play after taking a very bad sack for a 16-yard loss, Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa con-nected with DeVonta Smith on a 41-yard toss on what became the final play of the Crimson Tide’s 26-23 win over Georgia. Tagovailoa took over for Jalen Hurts at the half and threw for three TDs as Alabama finished off its fifth national champi-onship in the last 10 seasons.

3. PATRIOTS POSTERISED - TWICE

The two most memorable plays of 2018 in the NFL have much in common - they were touchdowns against the New England Patriots, went viral immediately and got cool names to boot. The Philly Special was Nick Foles catching a touchdown pass from Trey Burton late in the first half of the Philadelphia Eagles’ win in the Super Bowl over the Pats, and the Miami Miracle was the Dolphins connecting on a pass and two laterals before Kenyan Drake darted into the end zone

to cap a 69-yard touchdown that beat New England 34-33 on the final play.

2. ARIKE’S TWO MIRACLESSaying Notre Dame’s Arike

Ogunbowale had a flair for the dramatic at the women’s Final Four doesn’t even come close to doing what she did justice. She broke ties, and broke the hearts of Connecticut and Mis-sissippi State. Against UConn, Ogunbowale’s jumper with 1 second left put Notre Dame ahead to stay in the national semifinals - and two nights later, in the national-title game, she went to the right and let fly with a wild, high-arcing 3 that dropped at the buzzer for the win.

1. A DIVE INTO RED SOX LORE

Andrew Benintendi may never make a better catch. The left fielder for the Boston Red Sox made a diving grab to end Game 4 of the AL Champi-onship Series, a huge play on his team’s run to the World Series title. Boston led 8-6 in Game 4, up 2-1 in the series, but the bases were loaded in Houston and the crowd at Minute Maid Park was roaring. Alex Bregman hit a liner that was sinking fast, and if it had gotten past Benintendi the Astros would have likely scored three runs to win. But Benin-tendi dove perfectly, snared the ball just above the grass and the rest is now Red Sox lore - as well as the play of the year.

Andrew Benintendi of the Boston Red Sox dives to take the catch during Game 4 of the AL Championship Series against Houston Astros in this October 18 file photo.

Benintendi, the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox made a diving grab to end Game 4 of the AL Championship Series, a huge play on his team’s run to the World Series title. Benintendi snared the ball just above the grass and the rest is now Red Sox lore - as well as the play of the year.

Roger Federer won a point at the US Open without getting the ball over the net, Tiger Woods walked down the 18th fairway as a winner again, USA beat Canada in a shootout for gold in women’s hockey at the Pyeongchang Olympics, and John Shuster pulled off a curling shot of all-time to win another gold for the red, white and blue. Still, none of them made the list of the Plays of the Year.

LeBron James (right) capped his 64th career triple-double to help the Cavs top the Timberwolves 140-138 on February 8.

Benintendi’s match-winning catch voted ‘Play-of-the-Year’

Washington Capitals defenceman John Carlson (right) celebrates with team-mate right wing TJ Oshie in this file photo.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi (left) and Nigeria’s John Obi Mikel vie for the ball during their FIFA 2018 World Cup Group D football match in Saint Petersburg in this June 26 file photo.